From Age Based to Grade Based System
The most significant of these changes is the one that will move us from an age based to grade based football program. Here’s the history on how we got here with this decision – for a couple years now, several of the leaders within the FCYFA have wanted to play out of county competition. In fact, we’ve consulted with the county athletic director as well as the five high school varsity football head coaches on this and it is widely agreed upon that playing teams from other counties and associations would be healthy for the overall development of our county recreational football program.
This expansion presents a problem – different associations have different rules. In order to make this work, a competition committee has been formed from the various associations to create a compatible rule book that would allow for fair and competitive interleague play. We hope to have preseason games scheduled for the 2009 season and a league expansion in 2010 with regular season competition including Alpharetta and Roswell. Of course, the most significant of these rules relates to age control dates – how old exactly are the kids who play in each age division?
After much deliberation and consultation, the SSYFA board can identify three reasons why we support the change. First, interleague play requires that we make the change. We can’t have one without the other. Second, the national trend for football associations is moving quickly to a universal, grade based system so that all teams from all associations are equal as they are in baseball, basketball, and other sports. The surrounding counties play football in a grade based system. Third, after consulting with parents of children who played football in the grade below them when they were younger, it is quite clear that the best thing for most kids is for them to go ahead and play within their grade. If they continue to play in middle school and high school (and many won’t), they will play in a grade based program.
While we support this change, we have been challenged with the way it is being implemented as well as the way it has been communicated to the families involved throughout the county. I don’t want to throw anyone under the bus because there are a lot of people who spend lots of time working to make the FCYFA experience a great one for all kids and families. The Forsyth County Youth Football Association is a volunteer driven organization and it has its limits like all other similar organizations do. The FCYFA Commissioner and board members have spent a great deal of time considering these changes. We have looked at them numerous times from every possible angle. I can truly say that the county board has a heart to do what is in the best interest of our kids. These changes bring inconvenience for some in the short run. We place our trust in the long run and believe that we have done what is right and in the best interest of our kids – in the long run.
Our board asked the county to consider a grandfather clause for those kids who would be forced to play up in an age group older than the one they played in last season. The county board voted and it did not pass. We wish that the whole transition could have been spread out over more time allowing for a smoother transition. It wasn’t and that’s unfortunate. The SSYFA board has labored over this decision spending many late hours working on ways to best represent our park’s interest. While more than 80 children will be able to now “play down” with the kids in their grade another 24 kids will be forced to “move up” an age group, skip a year of football, and play with older kids than they have in the past. It’s these 24 kids who we are concerned about and, for that reason, have scheduled to meet with each these families to find ways to nurture and protect their love and commitment to playing youth football in our program. We are intent on doing everything we can to assist them in making the transition as smoothly as possible. We’ll be meeting with the parents of these 24 kids in the next couple weeks to get feedback and ideas on how we can assist them in the transition. Additionally, we’ll meet with our 2009 coaches to inform them of special requests that we’re making of them to assist the overall effort to help these kids that have been adversely affected.
We (SSYFA) didn’t exactly get our way in this change however; we have a new and exciting season for which we must prepare. We anticipate another great season in our community as we have many exciting things taking shape.
Park Alignment
The county is advising all parks to consider aligning with the high schools in their respective district. In fact, this season Midway Park will become the Midway Wolverines aligning with West Forsyth High and Sawnee Mountain will become the Sawnee Mountain Bulldogs as they align with Central Forsyth High. Bennett Park plans to make a change next year. The question for us is what do we do at Sharon Springs now with Lambert High School opening up this fall? There are a lot of factors that are beyond our control at this time and we continue to be involved with the county representing the interests of Sharon Springs families. We will be spending the next few months gauging the interest of our coaches and families as it relates to Sharon Springs aligning with the two high schools near our park, South Forsyth and Lambert.
The alignment with high schools will not give reason for people to be forced to play at a certain park. Many families travel for one reason or another to play football or cheerlead at a park that is out of their district. We see no reason to take this choice from them at all. We will strongly support a family’s freedom to choose to play out of whatever park they so desire.
It has become quite clear to me that one of the top priorities for our board and the members of our association is to continue to value and appreciate the Sharon Springs Football community. We pledge to do everything we can to continue making the Sharon Springs Football Family a strong and united one. Through the years, we’ve all come to enjoy the entire experience of our kids enjoying the wonderful sport of football together and the people we’ve met along the way and who have become part of our own families.
Player Participation
Recreational football is for the kids. It is about little boys and young men learning to play the game and the best way they learn to play the game is by playing in the games. The last change that has been made for this upcoming season involves a new minimum play rule.
Existing Participation Rules:
5 & 6 year olds -- 50/50 entire game – no free substitution.
7 year olds – 50/50 first half and third quarter; fourth quarter is free substitution
8, 9 & 10 year olds -- 50/50 first half only; second half is free substitution
11 year olds –50/50 first quarter only; remainder of the game is free substitution
12/13 year olds – free substitution the entire game
50/50 means players are listed on a roster as either offense or defense, and the coach cannot substitute them he must “clear the bench” upon every possession change. All kids are guaranteed playing time during 50/50 periods. Free substitution means that a coach has the prerogative to play anyone he wants to play. Only eleven kids are guaranteed playing time during free substitution periods. In recreational football, players should be guaranteed more playing time than the existing rules dictate. While most of our coaches understand the purpose of recreational football and they play their kids, all of them, a small number of the coaches abuse the existing rule and limit the amount of playing time.
A new minimum play rule has been adopted and I see two benefits: 1) it will guarantee more playing time for all the kids and 2) it will allow coaches to move players from one position to another so that a 6 year old doesn’t get stuck in a position on one side of the ball for the entire season – he has the possibility of playing both offense and defense during a single game.
New Rule:
5 & 6 year olds - 50/50 entire game – no free substitution but the line-ups at half time can be changed to move players to different positions.
7 year olds - 50/50 entire game – no free substitution but the line-ups at half time can be changed to move players to different positions.
8 year olds – 10 plays per half
9 year olds – 10 plays per half
10 year olds – 8 plays per half
11 year olds – 8 plays per half
12/13 year olds – no restrictions on participation, however all coaches should ensure that all kids get adequate participation time.
A play is any offensive or defensive play including special teams.
What does this mean to each age group:
5&6 – No change in the substitution rule, all kids must play. The only change is that at half-time you can change your roster and move kids from defense to offense, or from offense to defense. This means that a player is not restricted to playing a single position for the entire game.
7 year olds – Free substitution has been eliminated, a player must play the entire game. Rosters may be changed at half-time, same as 5&6 year old.
8 & 9 year olds – A player must play 10 plays in the first half and 10 plays in the second half. Listing players as defense or offense on a roster will not be needed. A player is free to move to multiple positions. A player must play a total of 20 plays in a game, the old system only insured that a player participates for the 1st half. This change will insure that the player participates in the second half.
10 & 11 year olds - A player must play 8 plays in the first half and 8 plays in the second half. Listing players as defense or offense on a roster will not be needed. A player is free to move to multiple positions. A player must play a total of 16 plays in a game, the old system only insured that a player participates for the 1st half for 10’s and the 1st quarter for 11’s. This change will insure that the player participates in the second half.
Benefits to the overall county program? 7 year old players get to play as they should. This places more emphasis on coaching the game in a healthy manner and less on winning. Ages 8 – 11 will also play more based on the number of plays in a game. They will be involved during the critical times of a game and coaches will be smart to coach and develop ALL players.
There has been much debate about this over the years and, from what I can tell, there is no perfect solution. It will not be easy to count plays for each player thereby creating one more thing a coach or his staff has to do during a game. However, it does ensure more playing time for the kids and, if that’s the case, I’m for it and so is our board. I also like very much the idea for younger ages where an offensive guard may get to play some defensive end or cornerback. The kids will enjoy the game more – and so will their parents.
